Panic
by CrimsonAcid
Summary: Draco never noticed that on days where he felt particularly bad he always seemed to be paired up with a Ravenclaw or the fact that Hermione was never more than a floor away. He did however; notice the strange episodes the Head girl was having.


AN: Hermione is headgirl and one of the perks is that she has her own room, keep that in mind. Thanks a MILLION to my kickass awesome beta Logical Quirk. Please review and tell me what could have been made better and such.

Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter and co. for if I did Hermione and Draco would have fallen madly in love and ruled the Wizarding world...or maybe not.

His heart was racing, his lungs were constricting, and he felt lost and scared. He briefly wondered if a random jinx had cursed him, but he hadn't sensed any magic or anyone around. He knew what was happening, no matter how much he wanted to deny it; talking to his father always did this to him. He was having one of his attacks and he wasn't sure how long it would last, or who would see him in this vulnerable state. He was going to die in the dungeons of Hogwarts and no one would know why. Just when he was about to lose hope he caught sight of his salvation: Karma was really a bitch.

Hermione

I had been walking out of the Potions classroom when I spotted none other than Draco Malfoy at the end of the corridor. I was about to make my way towards him and ask him what he was doing out of class and on the floor when I noticed he was struggling to breathe. I rushed towards him without much thought. After all, just because I was Hermione Granger, sworn enemy of all things Malfoy, didn't mean I was going to turn my back on someone who needed me (Voldemort being the exception). He was in the corner holding on to the walls for dear life as he struggled to breathe. I approached him slowly and cautiously; it wasn't safe to approach him rashly in a situation like this, I knew that well. I held out one hand and took small steps towards him; he backed away and slapped my hand away a couple of times. He was turning blue from lack of oxygen so I started to approach him faster. I was afraid that he would suffocate.

I finally got close enough to touch him and placed my hand on his back. He tensed, so I rubbed circles on his back, trying to get him to calm down. He seemed to relax a bit so I took that as my cue and started to talk to him.

"Concentrate on my voice," I whispered calmly while I rubbed his back, "focus on your breathing. Raise your hands over your head and take a deep breath in. Feel as your lungs expand and contract as you take in a breath. Feel the oxygen flooding your blood and letting you breathe. Focus only on your breathing, let everything else melt away and breathe deeply, think and do nothing but breathe." I kept talking to him in that soothing whisper until he could breathe normally again. I then backed away, gave him one last thorough look and left.

Draco

I hadn't noticed when she left; just that she had indeed left. I remembered the last look she had given me and wondered if she had been memorizing my crazed state for future jaunts. I would have. I fixed myself up and walked into the Slytherin common room; thankfully it was empty. I was glad no one besides me stayed up past midnight during a school night, and if someone did, they never stayed in the common room, they knew it was my territory. Tomorrow I had to make sure I did major damage control; no doubt Granger was going to spread what had happened around, and I didn't need the extra drama from my 'adoring' father.

I had been wrong, not that I would admitted that of course; no one taunted me, gave me pitying looks, or even gave off the faintest sign that they knew of that morning's events. Not even Granger herself had brought up the occurrence when our daily fights happened. Maybe it hadn't been Granger who had helped me after all.

General

However Draco was about to be proved wrong, yet again. A week after the first incident, his father owled him and told him that he was to get the Dark Mark after graduation; that way, Dumbledore wouldn't be able to interfere. He would almost have had another attack right then and there if it hadn't been for Hermione's outburst in the Gryffindor table. She yelled something that sounded a lot like "You know what, Ronald? Shove it!" and stormed off. Ginny had stormed off after her while Harry apparently lectured Ron, that little bit of drama had taken his mind off the letter and his attack had been postponed.

Draco

The Prefect Meeting had been long and filled with tension; by the time the meeting was over I could have sworn I was blue from lack of air. I had loosened my tie, opened my robe, and even undid the first two buttons of my shirt. It had worked very little, unfortunately now I had to patrol. I had been paired with a random Ravenclaw I didn't know; she was pretty and smelled like honeysuckle. I could have gotten a worse partner, hell I could have been partnered with Weasley, who is still probably peeved at Granger. We finished our round and reported to Granger, who was in front of the Ravenclaw portrait talking to some blonde chick.

On my way down to the dungeon I started to think. I thought about Graduation and what was expected from me. I thought about who really helped me during the attack, and I thought about the next one that would come. However, thinking is not something I should do when I'm trying to steer away from my attacks. As if by magic my throat closed up, my breathing became ragged, I was disoriented and anxious. I was having an attack. I was about to fall down the stairs when a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me towards them. The person landed on the floor with a thud and I landed on top of him, who I realized was a her as soon as I opened my eyes. I had just landed on Granger and she was definitely going to have a bruise in the morning. I tried to get off her, but I couldn't find the strength to do it so I just kind of laid on her breathing heavily.

She rolled us over and for a moment I was slightly impressed by her strength. She got off me and helped me sit, not that I needed that much help anyway.

Hermione

I had followed him down the corridors and stairs out of worry. He had been fidgeting through out the whole Prefect meeting and if I remembered rightly, Malfoys don't fidget. I had been slightly worried that he would have an attack during patrol so I had paired him with a Ravenclaw. It was the sensible thing to do; a Gryffindor would have used the time to their advantage, and he wouldn't want to show such vulnerability in front of a Slytherin, a Hufflepuff probably would have had a panic attack too, so that left a Ravenclaw, who would know to be very discreet.

Thankfully, he hadn't had one during the patrol, but he did have one afterwards, just as he was going down the stairs. All I remember doing was reaching for his arm and pulling him towards me, then the very hard fall that I took. He couldn't move so I had to flip us so that I could get out from under his dead weight. I sat us up as best I could and held his arms above his head.

"Focus on your breathing, forget everything. Forget school, family, friends, and enemies, just remember to breathe. Remember the feel of air rushing in through your nose and filling your lungs. Remember the coolness it fills your lungs with at this time of night. Remember the warmth that it creates as you exhale. Remember to just breathe, just breathe." I tried to synchronize our breathings to help him get a rhythm going, but he was still breathing too heavily. I pinned his arms up with one hand and crawled behind him. I kept talking to him in that soothing tone and started to rub circles on his back. "Just breathe, Draco, remember to breathe and just concentrate on that." I tensed as I heard his name escape my lips, but I needed to calm him down and maybe familiarity would help him, to call him Malfoy would just make him tenser. He finally got his breathing normal so I stood up to leave. I looked at him to make sure he was okay and saw him try to say something. I didn't even let him open his mouth, I just turned and ran. I couldn't have handled thanks from him, and an insult would have ruined the moment, what ever it was.

Draco

Hearing her say my name for the first time without any malice or coldness caused me to suck in a deep breath and my breathing finally regulated. I wasn't sure if the breath I had taken had been out of anger or pleasant surprise, but it saved me. I felt her shift and stand, so I looked up just in time to see her look me over just as she had the first time. I wanted to tell her she had no right to look at me in such a way, I wanted to ask her why she helped me, I wanted to know what she was planning, but before I could ask anything she had run away.

General

Draco didn't bring it up after that, not even during their everyday quarrels. Hermione didn't bring it up either. It had been as if an unspoken promise had been made between them to never speak of the incident to anyone. Hermione for her part didn't turn her back on him; she always made sure that he was never patrolling more than a floor away from her and that on days where he seemed prone to an attack he was always paired with a Ravenclaw. He didn't have one after the staircase incident, but she wasn't going to risk it.

Draco never noticed that on days where he felt particularly shitty he always seemed to be paired up with a Ravenclaw or the fact that Hermione was never more than a floor away. He did however; notice the strange episodes the Head girl was having. He did notice the way that whenever she got angry and stormed away Ginny was never too far away. He also noticed that he was noticing excessively much about his "biggest rival"; he was beginning to question his mental health. It was about two months before graduation when another attack happened.

Draco

Pansy had been particularly clingy today and refused to free me from her vice grip. She claimed that we were going to be closer than that soon, what with our arranged marriage and such. I told her I'd rather marry Blaise; she laughed and said I was such a tease. She didn't seem to get the hint. Afterwards we had the longest Transfiguration class period ever, in which Longbottom actually managed to turn me into a teacup! To say I was furious would be putting it mildly. The one thing that managed to brighten that class was when another of Longbottom's curses went haywire and hit Pansy; I had to say she made a rather ugly dog. What was funnier still was when Granger laughed out loud and got a growl from both Pansy and McGonagall.

Afterwards I had Potions with Snape, which would have been rather pleasant, if I hadn't been stuck with Granger as my partner. Normally that would have just killed me, but seeing as we had this silent truce going on I could not have cared less. Except for the fact that she smelled so damn good! Then the way she would cut the ingredients was entirely too sensual for such a tedious job. To top it all off I swear her skirt was too short because it appeared that Granger had three kilometers of legs.

Snape must have noticed that I had paid too much time on her because he decided it was time to pay us a visit, which wasn't pleasant…for her. He bombarded her with questions, which she answered calmly and correctly. She must have noticed that he wouldn't leave until she got something wrong because she lowered her head after a while and bit her lip. She took several deep breaths and answered something not quite to his standards. He sneered at her and assigned her a yard long essay worth zero points. She whipped her head up and gave him a stone look. This is where it got weird because he nodded and she ran out of the classroom. He looked at me and warned me that time is better spent working than admiring. I didn't even see her at lunch after that. Weaslette left as soon as she found out Granger wasn't there and had left potions early.

The entire Gryffindor table must have come to the decision that what ever was wrong was my fault because they harassed me in all my classes until Granger showed up at the end of Runes. She must have scolded them because they wouldn't even look at me afterwards. When dinner came things just got so much better. Father decided that it was time that I made my engagement with Pansy official and that it would be announced on the first Sunday of the next month when both our families would have their monthly dinner. He had also decided that I would be joining him during their next planned Death Eaters meeting; of course, he called it tea time with an old friend. The man had a sick sense of what teatime consisted of.

Apparently, Pansy had gotten a similar letter from her parents because she pranced to me and started to squeal about wedding plans. That was when I started to feel my chest tighten and my throat become dry. I was feeling crowded, so I wrenched my arm away from her, and walked out of the Great Hall. I was heading towards the Slytherin common room when I heard noise coming from the Potions classroom. At first, I wondered who would be stupid enough to fool around in Snape's classroom, then I wondered if maybe it was Snape making all that noise.

I rushed into the classroom to find Granger in the middle of throwing an empty vial at the Professor's head. I hadn't even notice that she had left the Great Hall and that Snape and Weaslette had followed her. She must have heard me come in, because she turned and stared at me with a wild look in her eyes and started to back away quickly, almost running backwards. That was when Weaslette appeared from out of nowhere and embraced her from the back.

"Calm down, love, we aren't going to hurt you. It's me Ginny, just relax and breathe before you suffocate. Drink what Professor Snape wants you to drink and we can go to the Gryffindor room." Weaslette lowered them towards the floor, but Granger was still struggling. I must have walked towards them because in an instant I was in front of them and Snape was behind me holding me back.

"I…can't…breathe…leave…me…alone…dirty…Death…Eaters. Don't…touch…me. You…are…not…Ginny. You…won't…poison…me. You…won't…win!" Granger must have really been out of it. She managed to wrench herself from Weaslette and launch herself at me. "Don't…let…them…get…me." She said as she struggled to breathe, her face was changing colors, and she looked like she were about to pass out. I wrapped an arm around her slender waist and pulled her closer to me, so she wouldn't fall. I looked over at Snape questioningly and his response was to smirk at me, seriously not helpful at all.

"It seems like she trusts you Draco, ironically enough."

"That's nice and all, but what in the names of the seven hells am I supposed to do?" I asked, peeved.

"You calm her down enough so she can breathe, Malfoy. If you can do that she will be fine, if you can't, try to do it enough so we can feed her this potion." Weaslette answered in a matter of fact tone. This was just getting better and better by the second!

"Don't…listen…to…them…they…are…trying…to…poison…me." Granger clung to me tighter and buried her head against my chest.

"All right then, love, how about we get away from them before they get a hold of you and poison you. Come one let's get out of here." I had no idea what I was doing, but a Malfoy didn't like to be in debt and I owed her for helping me during my two attacks. I knew dinner wasn't over yet so I took her out to the hallway, much to Weaslette's protest. "Look at me, love, yeah that's good. Now I want you to just listen to me, okay?" She nodded and tried to take a deep breath. Her breathing was getting worse and I was worried that she would die before I could repay my debt. "I want you to concentrate on my breathing, just concentrate on the flow of air going in and out of your lungs. Just concentrate on oxygen and the rise and fall of my chest. Concentrate on synchronizing your breathing with mine, concentrate on filling your lungs with air, just concentrate on breathing." I started to rub circles on her back and raised her hand over her head as she had done to me twice before. Her breathing was finally controlled and she seemed to come back to herself. I took that chance and I walked her back inside the class where Snape and Weaslette were waiting for me.

"Mione?" Weaslette asked cautiously as she neared us.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Gins," Granger replied as she removed her arm from around my neck and opened her arms to hug a running Weaslette.

"Nah, you know I'll always be here for you. I'm not my brother, after all," Weaslette joked as she hugged Granger tighter.

"Any one care to explain what the bloody hell happened here?" I asked in confusion.

Hermione

I had a feeling today was going to be a bad day since I first woke up. That night all I had was nightmares so I woke up feeling more tired than usual. At breakfast, Ron started to argue that I spent more time with Ginny than I did with Harry and him. He even had the gall to ask if I was trying to turn his sister into a book-crazed nerd. I stormed out and Ginny had the pleasure of chewing him out before she grabbed Harry and dragged him out. During Transfiguration, I had to tutor Neville during class and in one incident, he aimed the wrong way and managed to turn Malfoy into a teacup. Malfoy wasn't too happy with the incident. McGonagall seemed to think that Neville needed even more tutoring because after I had turned Malfoy back to normal, discreetly of course, I didn't want anyone to see, she had me help him all during double Transfigurations. I barely managed to survive, but to my great pleasure, the only thing he managed to hit me with was a spell that thankfully bounced of my barrier and hit Pansy Parkinson straight in the chest. The dog look really fitted her well. Unfortunately, McGonagall didn't share my joy and demanded I apologize for laughing.

My next class was Potions and I was not looking forward to it. Ron was still mad at me and that meant he was going to pair up with Harry, leaving me alone, which would give Professor Snape free reign to pair me up with any Slytherin he choose fit to torment. Why couldn't he understand that pairing a Slytherin and a Gryffindor together was torture for both? Maybe he did and that was all some twisted plan to get us to tolerate each other. Frankly, I didn't have time to ponder on that thought so I sat and let him pair me up. I was lucky enough to be paired up with Malfoy, lucky for the mere fact that we had a silent truce going on ever since I had helped him out. The fact that he was bloody sexy and smarter than I gave him credit for had nothing to do with it.

That's when things got worse though. I had been cutting up our ingredients when I felt two pair of eyes glaring at me. I turned discreetly and noticed Ron looking daggers at my back; apparently, he didn't like the fact that Malfoy and I were getting along. That saddened me and caused me distress. I couldn't believe that someone who I considered my best friend would be so upset over the fact that I was hanging out with his sister. What upset me the most was that he was mad that Malfoy and I weren't trying to kill each other. I looked to my side and noticed that the second pair of eyes belonged to Malfoy. He was giving me a very strong stare; it was as if he was trying to look deep inside me. That disconcerted me and I could feel that tension bubble up inside me. I needed to leave that class and soon, I needed a plausible excuse; I needed Professor Snape to hound me.

_Professor, I'm going to have an attack. I need you to give me a believable excuse to leave. I need you to hound me until I storm out, please._

_How fast is this attack coming?_

_Soon, please hurry._

_I believe Mr. Malfoy just gave me a great excuse to go over there._

_You can tell he has been watching me too._

_Even someone as clueless and brainless as Weasley could notice. _

No one knows about the link the Professor and I share, and I doubt anyone ever will know. It was shortly after my first curse induced panic attack that Headmaster Dumbledore decided it would be best if I had a link with all the teachers. He knew I didn't want anyone to know of my misfortune and if I felt an attack coming it would be best if the teachers were aware of it. It was a safety precaution for all concerned.

Professor Snape walked over to us and started to question me on everything we were doing. I gave each answer as calmly as I could, but I could feel myself getting more and more impatient. Finally, it got to the key question, the one I was suppose to answer wrong, but by now, my breathing was irregular. I took several deep breaths, bit my lip to keep it from trembling and answered wrong. We went to the motions of extra homework and I got to escape without anyone suspecting a thing. I ran to his chambers and rode out the panic attack. I only had to wait a couple of minutes until lunch and then Ginny would come to help me. All I needed to do was hold on.

I could feel my throat closing up and so I tried to relax my body into obeying me. I couldn't get enough air into my lungs and I felt as if I would pass out any minute. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but Snape finally showed up to try to calm me down. I wasn't that far gone and I could sense his mind brushing mine trying to control me enough to get me to breathe easily. That worked until he went in too far and my mind's defenses were alerted. My mind closed up and refused to listen to reason and in turn, my body closed too. I couldn't breathe anymore, but my body and mind didn't seem to notice that anything was wrong besides the mind trying to invade mine.

That was when Ginny rushed in through the laboratory door and to my aid. She soothed me into a sense of security and eventually managed to calm me. By then lunch was over and we all had classes to attend to. Snape, however, didn't see it fit to send me to class and have some dunderhead pay for my serious lack of judgment. I stayed behind in his living quarters until that period ended, but unfortunately on my way to History of Magic I had another attack and had to duck into the nearest rest room. Snape didn't find that very amusing and so he kept me locked up for the rest of my classes until he saw fit to send me to Runes, even if it was the very end of it.

When I got to Runes however I could feel the tension between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. It was worse than usual; even the ever-collected Professor looked frazzled. I entered the classroom, making sure that all Gryffindor eyes were on me, and glared. I gave the teacher an excuse from Snape and sat down next to a Ravenclaw.

"What's going on?"

"The Gryffindors have been giving Malfoy hell ever since you left during Potions. It appears Ginny's brother has been instigating fights between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins," the Ravenclaw answered and went right back to work. I turned around and sneaked a seat next to the Gryffindors so I could give them a good scolding and was only satisfied when they couldn't even look at Malfoy. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there. At dinner, Ron had the audacity to yell at me for stopping them from torturing Malfoy. He accused me of fraternizing with the enemy again and betraying them for Voldemort. I was so livid I couldn't even stand to see him much less slap him and so I left; however, it was too late because he had already caused me to have another attack. I rushed to the Potions classroom and I was just entering when I felt Ginny behind me. We rushed in just in time for my attack to explode. After that, all I remembered was Draco helping me out when I needed him.

"Mione?" Ginny asked cautiously as she neared us.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Gins." I answered as I reluctantly removed my arm from around his neck. I stepped away and opened my arms to hug a running Ginny.

"Nah, you know I'll always be here for you. I'm not my brother, after all," Ginny joked as we hugged.

"Any one care to explain what the bloody hell happened here?" Draco asked, feeling out of the loop.

"This is a side affect to the curse I was hit with during fifth year. Every once in a while I get panic attacks and become very paranoid. Sometimes I don't even remember what I do," I answered honestly. I knew he wouldn't use this against me, just as I hadn't used his attacks against him. "Since it was cast improperly my panic attacks are a little different than the normal ones, for example, those who suffer from panic attacks don't actually faint, but I have been known to do so."

General

A tentative friendship was formed from their similar plights and it eventually evolved into a strong bond between Ginny, Draco, and Hermione. Hermione helped him with his panic attacks, Draco would help her with her attacks, and Ginny was their rock. It hadn't happened over night, but over time they came to realize that the feelings they were having towards each other were more intense than friendship.

It had been after one of Draco's attacks that Hermione, Ginny and he had been talking about what had caused it. Draco told them that his father had told him that next week he would meet with Voldemort to decide his future as a Death Eater. Both girls were distraught, but together they came to the decision that it could not happen and so they brought him forth to the Order. Some of the Order members welcomed him warmly while others barely accepted him, but that was how Dumbledore wanted it so they had no choice.

The day before the meeting, Draco had another attack. The worse attack he had ever had, but Hermione was there to help him through it. Ginny had reluctantly gone to explain everything to Harry; she didn't want to place him in danger, but she knew he needed to know.

Draco

Tomorrow I am going to betray everything I have known for so long. Tomorrow I am going to turn on my friends, my family, and a fiancé I do not even love. Tomorrow everything that was part of Draco Lucien Malfoy, Pureblood Extremist is going to die. That was a disconcerting thought. A thought that caused my heart to hurt, my lungs to contract, and my head to pound. I was having an attack and it felt different from the rest and different is not always good. I made my way to Hermione's room and sneaked in.

"Wake up. Wake up! My throat is starting to close up." I shook her awake and watched as she realized who was in her room exactly. Her face went from sleepy, to alert, to worry in a matter of seconds. If I hadn't been dying I would have found it funny.

"Okay, come on, lay down next to me. Raise your arms above your head and visualize your lungs expanding with every breath you take. Forget everything and just visualize the air rushing into your lungs and filling them up. Forget all but the softness of the bed, the smoothness of the comforter, the cool night air, the joy and serenity of just breathing. Just remember to breath and live, nothing less and nothing more. Just you, the air, and the bed."

Her voice was husky and scratchy from sleep. Her eyes were starting to cloud over with sleep, but she was as alert as ever. Her voice, the comfort, and the instructions she was giving me managed to calm me down enough to breath. As soon as my breathing was normal again she collapsed right next to me in exhaustion. She wasn't sleeping, but her eyes were closed and she looked utterly peaceful, I almost forgot about what would happen tomorrow. I was about to fall asleep with her when I felt another attack coming and it came so strong that all I could do was grasp her arm.

She woke up, opened her eyes and turned as best she could to look at me. She tried to calm me again, but nothing worked so she stopped and looked at me for what seemed to be an eternity. She then lay down beside me and draped her arm around me. Her face was right next to mine so I turned to her in question, but all she did was lean up and kiss my lips, softly, tenderly, sweetly, and lovingly. It was as if her kiss had sent air directly into my lungs because the next thing I knew I was coughing and taking big gulps of air. She gave me a sleepy smile and I lay back down with her in my arms. I pulled her towards my body and fell asleep with her in my arms.

Hermione

I fell asleep shortly after Draco's second attack. I couldn't remember much except working through it with him; I was too exhausted from dueling earlier on today. I could feel something go wrong in my body, something was creeping around me, and I knew the outcome would be disastrous. I woke up with two strong arms around me and panicked. I tried to push the arms off of me, but they just pulled me closer. I was frantic now; I screamed for help, pushed the arms away, I even went so far as to bite it. I was finally free; I jumped out of bed, and ran to the door when I heard a very familiar and angry voice.

"Hermione, stop!" I did just as the voice said and turned to look at the speaker.

"Draco?" I wasn't sure if it was him or if I was just in the middle of an attack.

"What's wrong? You look flushed and confused, are you having an attack?" Draco took a step forward and I took one back, unfortunately I hit the door.

"I'm not sure; I just know there is something wrong." Just when Draco was about to speak I collapsed on the floor. I started to have convulsions and sweat from every pore on my body. I could feel my insides contracting with every seizure. I was so sure I was going to die, I knew that this would be my last attack, because it was the worst attack I had ever had. I finally stopped convulsing and looked around the room. I could see shadows, people scurrying about the room like rats trying to hide from the light. I asked them who they were, but they refused to answer. I wasn't sure if I was even speaking out loud.

I was about to stand when I felt someone nearing me; it was slow and cautious, but I could feel his movements. I looked up to see a man with peroxide platinum blonde hair. I wasn't sure who he was, but he obviously knew me because he called out to me. I sat up, never taking my eyes off of him. I summoned my wand and stood, never breaking eye contact with him, never alerting him to what might happen. I rounded on him and he moved with me as if we were dancing. Our moves were coordinated, like a dark, predatory dance, as if we were waiting for the other to attack.

"Who are you?" I asked as the dance continued its course. He tilted his head a few degrees and gave me a small smile.

"I'm Draco," he responded, as if that was supposed to mean anything to me. The shadows were crowding around us and I was sure one of them would eventually see my wand. I had to act fast if I was to accomplish anything. I could feel the tension and hopelessness bubble up inside me threatening to engulf every ounce of oxygen and float it out of my body.

"Friend or foe?" I knew it was a stupid question, even if he were a foe he would say friend, but I needed time to think of something. He looked at me intensely as if by just looking at me he could formulate the right answer. One of the shadows moved closer towards me as if to attack and I had no choice, but to dodge out of the way. Unfortunately, dodging one threatening entity sent me into a collision path with another.

"By the wand in your hand I have a feeling that no matter what my answer had been you wouldn't have believed me," the man said as he prevented my fall. I looked him deep in the eyes and saw an inkling of truth, or something similar to it. That moment of weakness was all the shadows had needed to ambush me. One by one they began to attack me, or at least attempt to, but I couldn't see their faces.

"Show yourself!" I wasn't sure why I had asked them to do that, but if I was to die, I wished to know who had done it. The shadows stepped forward and I could see the Death Eaters. I tried to remain calm, but I knew I was in over my head. The tension, fear, and hopelessness that had threatened to drown me rose again creating a kind of typhoon within my body. I raised my wand at them and the man behind me placed his arm over my wand. "Don't interfere, Draco. I may not know who you are, but if you interfere I will not hesitate to dispose of you."

"There is no one there." He tried to remove my wand, but I managed to evade him and roll out of the way. However, being locked in a confined space with numerous Death Eaters meant that I didn't have room to protect myself. I was caught by a group of Death Eaters who wasted no time in taunting me. They danced around me in some sick, ritual dance of joy. It was as if I were having a bad dream. I looked towards Draco, but he seemed oblivious to the Death Eaters; his focus was solely on me.

"He can't help you. He isn't even there. You are in denial, Mudblood, accept it, you are dead." The voice was icy. No emotion behind it, not even of hate, but it was as hypnotic as a spell. They all began to chant the same thing, to torment me, to taunt me. I was chained to the wall with dozens of Death Eaters around me, hallucinating of a madman who would save me. Everything within me, all the fear, all the tensions, all the despair, all the hopelessness crashed into me and knocked the oxygen right out of me. My throat swelled up, I couldn't get a breath into my lungs, and I knew I was dying. My distressed fueled their frenzy and in turn their frenzy fueled my distress. I fell limp against the bonds and felt my lungs shut down, despite my protests. I looked up one last time – I did not want my last vision to be of a rabid pack of Death Eaters – and looked at the man who had apparently been nothing but a dream.

"I am real; you are just having an attack. It's a side effect from the curse you were hit with during fifth year." I tried to smile, but the pain prevented me from doing any pleasantries. "Just focus on me, okay, I'll help you." I nodded slowly and tried to focus on him, but eventually I passed out from lack of oxygen. I'm not sure what happened next, but when I woke up I was in the arms of the stranger.

"Who are you?"

"I'm, well I'm your…Draco."

"My Draco?" I asked puzzled. Last time I had checked people couldn't own men named Draco. I thought back to what had happened and realized just who he was. "You're the man who saved me aren't you?" Draco nodded and I smiled. I looked him in the eyes and felt his face; once I was sure he wasn't a vision I kissed him and then promptly passed out again.

General

It was after that day that both Draco and Hermione realized how much they needed each other. Their love was the only thing that could help them both prevent and survive their attacks. They made it through the war with many casualties, but they and their most loved ones had survived. They married on the anniversary of Draco's first attack, and some say they lived happily ever after.


End file.
